Bleeds Pirate Blue

Thanks Jacques. I can see you've got over 8,600 posts to your name, which would make you a forum regular I'd assume? And rather than engage with my concerns, you instead make a snide remark and look to exclude another potential member of the community.

Haha. Not at all. This is my only account. Feel free to check my IP address and so on. I have nothing to hide. There is a chance I had another account 4 or 5 years ago when I last engaged with this forum, but I couldn't for the life of me remember the log-in I used, so set up this account. Now I'm living in Dorset and a fully fledged Pirates fan again, I've got back involved into the online speedway community, although as my previous posts have probably shown, not sure I want to be.

I've come to the conclusion from participating in this thread (and the Darcy Ward one) that mdmc82 is a real life version of Hyacinth Bucket (ahem, Bouquet) - essentially a narcissistic fantasist, but unfortunately for us, this 'real life' version is much more malicious. I'll also add that I have never seen a forum more in need of a strong-handed moderator. The behaviour and quite blatant trolling from the likes of Game On, robert72, Gavan and orion, among others (those are the names I think of off the top of my head) is an utter joke. There are certainly some pro-Poole posters on here too who clearly wind a lot of people up (Red Panda, just please quit with the ruddy fullstops! and Starman, you do keep digging holes!), but from my own experiences of being on here I'm mainly seeing Poole-fans on the defensive against an onslaught of bitter fans clutching at straws in their tinfoil hats. This thread is over 80 pages, and I'd wager about 70+ of them are about ten to twelve posters all being aggressive and confrontational to each other. No-one's opinion has changed. It's literally just page after page after page of the same damn argument. "You cheat". "No we didn't". "You've cheated before", blah blah blah. I'm pretty confident you're all "adults" too, which makes your actions even more sad. All this talk of the sport dying and a lack of new fans. I wonder why? The speedway "fans" on this forum come across as vindictive pieces of work you'd cross the road to avoid. Bearing in mind this is the #1 speedway forum in the UK, and that the new generation of potential fans are going to be digitally savvy, do you think that on seeing the reprehensible behaviour of far FAR too many people in here is going to encourage them to start joining in the conversation, and attending meetings?

Several posts in here have suggested the antics of the Poole Promotion is one of the reasons that British Speedway is struggling. I'd like to suggest the malicious attitudes of too many fans, and the grumpy old curmudgeons with their tinfoil hats are a much bigger problem. So much for being a family sport. I joined this forum hoping to discuss speedway with like-minded enthusiasts. Instead I'm wondering what's the point, as the amount of vitriolic rubbish that is posted on this forum is overwhelming. Such a disappointment.

@tellboy If it was a thrilling race, then probably yes. I know I would have applauded. As I did when he came past after falling.

For what it's worth, the "cheer" at Harris sliding off was for the failure of the Coventry double points tactical. There was certainly no cheer when Ellis went down. In fact it went quiet. As for Heat 1, first bend bunching and tapes malfunction. I notice there was no mention of the standing ovation the grandstand gave Harris after he won Heat 10. Nice impartial reporting...

The 2015 Poole Pirates finished the year at the top of the Elite League as the #1 seed for the playoffs (clear by 4pts). They scored the most points of all Elite League clubs (1,383), 58 more than the next best scoring team, Belle Vue. That's more than two points per meeting on average better than any other team. In 2015, Poole have raced Coventry on five occasions, winning three, drawing one and losing one. The cumulative score for the five matches is Poole 223-195 Coventry. The one Poole loss is notable for the fact that Pirates #1, Maciej Janowski (10.40 home CMA) was replaced by guest Richard Lawson, who scored 4 points. But yeah, the use of Edward Kennett as a guest rider for Dakota North, compliant with the rules of the sport, will be the reason the Pirates win the league, if that is how it all plays out?

Are we REALLY going to have a debate about the fairness of the guest rule in here, right now? I suppose Poole are behind the Guest rule now as well? It feels like people are clutching at straws/trolling now. The guest rule has been part and parcel of British Speedway for as long as we all remember. Don't bring it up as an excuse for your teams success/failure. It's the same for everyone. Sometimes it works out well for you, sometimes badly... Get over it...

I would suggest certain facts need to be known definitively before Poole can be accused of cheating. Firstly, when did Dak's father get injured? Secondly, how serious is the injury? Perhaps then can you establish a timeline for whether Poole "fiddled" this incident. Also, just because other riders have choosen to continue racing soon after serious incidents may have affected them emotionally is their own choice. People react differently, and if someone's decisions are different to your own, so be it. Also, speedway has long been a sport with poor rules and loopholes. Everyone takes advantage whenever they can and screams bloody murder as soon as another team does it. Yes Dak has been poor in the last month, and this incident gives Poole an opportunity to replace him, but to suggest it's a setup is crazy. By all accounts a man has been hurt in an industrial accident and people on here are finger pointing and hurling insults. Disgraceful. It disappoints me that speedway, a sport generally supported by a maturer audience, can have such a vindictive and poisonous supporter base. I wonder how many on here look at the younger generation of "hoodies" and happy-slapping and shake their heads, yet use Internet speedway forums to act the troll and spout nonsense.

Proud is certainly the right word. It's been a difficult week as a Poole fan and it was a rousing performance. Up the Pirates! Let's do this for Darcy.

Outstanding display from a very fired up Pirates team tonight. The atmosphere was very muted to start but soon got loud as the Pirates put on a swashbuckling show. Matt Ford got very emotional after the meeting talking about Darcy.